1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material containing a novel coupler and, more particularly, to a color photographic light-sensitive material which can achieve an improved sharpness and a high sensitivity when image formation is performed in the presence of a novel coupler having a high reactivity.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a color photographic light-sensitive material, when color development is performed after the material is exposed, an oxidized aromatic primary amine developing agent and a coupler react with each other to form an image. This method adopts a color reproduction technique according to subtractive color processes. In order to reproduce blue, green, and red, color images of their complementary colors, i.e., yellow, magenta, and cyan are formed.
Each coupler is required not only to form a dye but also to have various characteristics such as good spectral absorption characteristics of the formed dye, a high dye formation rate, a high color forming density, and a high fastness of the formed dye against light, heat, and humidity. In particular, since a higher sensitivity and a higher image quality have been required for light-sensitive materials in recent years, a strong demand has arisen for development of a coupler having a high dye formation rate and a high color forming density. In addition, in designing a DIR coupler (a coupler which releases a development inhibitor when reacting with an oxidized form of an aromatic primary amine developing agent and is used to improve the sharpness and the color reproducibility of an image), the above properties are very important factors.
One effective means of increasing the dye formation rate is a method of introducing an acid dissociation group or a high polar group to a coupler molecule. Examples are a method described in JP-A-58-42045 ("JP-A" means Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application) in which a p-hydroxybenzenesulfonyl group or a p-hydroxybenzenesulfinyl group is introduced, and methods described in British Patent 909,318, JP-B-62-61251 ("JP-B" means Published Examined Japanese Patent Application), and JP-A-61-121054 in which an N-acylsulfamoyl group is introduced. However, these methods are still unsatisfactory and required to be further improved.